Only a few days left!

Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!
Finish your Backlog Burning by June 1st!

Quick links:

• Backlog Bingo Site
• Week 1 Discussion and Event Guidelines
• Week 2 Discussion
• Week 3 Discussion
• Week 4 Discussion

Week 4 Recap

8 participants played 7 bingo cards and moved 29 games out of their backlogs!
There were t̵̳̒h̵̡̫͊r̷̘̼̎é̴̪̕e̶͙̭̓̿ bingo wins!
Congratulations to u/SingedFrostLantern, u/kfwyre, and ų̷̪̭̖͚̮̃̃̃̅̉͒͑̀͊͜/̸͙͇̿͒́̋̽̈̈́ą̷͈̠͍̪̯̩͕͛́̐̈́̾͠p̶͔͕̭͓̫͕͓̬̫̗̉̅̽̈́̇́͘͝ḫ̸̠̤̫̦͖̘̙̣̦͗͜ǫ̴̯̪̣͚̥̝̞̘͊̏͠ȩ̷̛̖̭͕̗̹̹̌͛͌͆̋̈́n̸̯̮͕͂̄̀͗͐̋̈́̿̂͆i̷̱͉̰̻͈̦̗̤͋͌̂̍̋̿͜ͅẋ̶̡̛̘͖͎̰͓̫̼̀͂͗͒̉͑͝͝ͅ

28% of games played this week started with the letter S.

There was a 5 letter stretch of the alphabet for which there were no games played: H-I-J-K-L

At least 2 Linux distributions were installed by participants this week.

Coincidentally, at least 2 bingo cards were deleted by participants this week.

Thus far, a total of 136 games have been played for the May 2025 Backlog Burner.

Game List:

• Against the Storm
• Arcade Paradise
• The Binding of Isaac
• Celeste
• Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game
• Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition
• Foundation
• Garshasp: The Monster Slayer
• Goat Simulator 3
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Machinarium
• Neon Noodles
• Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle
• Noita
• OneShot
• PixelJunk Eden
• Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator
• Shadow Warrior (2013)
• Shing!
• Shoot Many Robots
• Spacerat Miner
• Splice
• The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
• The Swapper
• Stray Gods
• Tapeworm Disco Puzzle
• Tau
• Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

From time to time, i think about great solos in music. And when i do i always want to make a compilation playlist with songs featuring these beautiful solos.

Some of the solos that come to mind is the building crescendo of Unforgiven by Metallica, that ends in a beautifully unforgettable cacophony of sound that elevates the song to another level.
Or Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, which have a fantastic wonder-scene that gives great attention to the incredible mastering of the song.

I would love to hear what song featuring what you believe is the most unforgettable solo.
Thank you all in advance, and have a great day!

Hello everyone! I had a realization recently spurred by ongoing work stress that my partner is going through. I don't think I'm really good at providing comfort to people.

For one, I always feel very awkward when people other than close friends or romantic partners open up to me. I never quite know what to say. Something like "there there. I'm sorry you're going through that" feels really trite and rehearsed. However the other mode that I have is problem solving, which most people don't appreciate when they're going through something hard.

Secondly, I have this internal feeling about constantly providing comfort for the same thing over and over forming a sort of codependency. I went through this with a previous long term relationship. She hated her job, she would come home, cry, I'd do my "there there" thing, she'd cheer up just enough to force herself through another day, and the cycle would repeat ad nauseum. At a certain point it began to feel like I was enabling a sort of self-harm, and I was bearing much of the fallout from that self-harm. Her job would make her miserable, she'd make me miserable, eventually I'd bear enough of that misery for her to make herself miserable again. Would it have been better to just put my foot down, say I'm no longer going to comfort you for this job that is stealing all of your joy, and I will help you fix this problem, but I won't continue to soothe the pain it causes you? Maybe, but I don't know if I could bring myself to do that. Also, what happens if it's a problem without a solution? What if it's a problem that most people deal with, and you just need to sort of build emotional resilience to deal with?

I don't know the answers to these questions, and I'm not sure if anyone really does for sure, but I'm curious how other people feel about comforting people. What strategies have worked for you? Does it feel awkward? Is it something you've consciously worked on? Do you believe there's such a thing as too much comfort? Even for the people you love?

What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!

This is a long mind dump of my history with D&D, my love of it, etc.

tl;dr - I love D&D. I liked DMing briefly. My group broke apart. I miss D&D.

Around 6 or 7 years ago a friend invited me to play D&D for the first time. I met a bunch of new people through this group and while a lot of people came and went throughout our two campaigns, there was always a core group of 3 of us that were always present.

At first it was very nerve-wracking. Not only because I was still learning the mechanic, but also because there's a certain amount of performance and vulnerability in getting into your character. While at home I'm always dropping into silly voices to make my wife laugh and I've gotten pretty good at doing various accents, cartoony voices, etc., at the table I couldn't do any of it. I had stage fright in front of a group of very accepting and kind friends. And it took me a few sessions (and beers) to push through it and be my authentic, goofy self in-person like that. In a way, it helped me grow as a person.

Eventually our DM moved far away and a bunch of players were left without anyone to lead our games, so we just didn't play for about a year. During that year I began thinking about DMing. My grasp of D&D's mechanics have never been great, but in that year Baldur's Gate 3 came out. And I hear some of you groaning because I know it's not a 1:1 match with 5e's rules. But it helped fill my knowledge gaps enough that I felt sorta okay DMing. So I offered to DM.

My first session was a premade campaign from the Starter Kit. Almost immediately I wanted to tweak the story, insert old characters of mine, throw in a few references my friends might get, stuff like that. I think we made it like 2 sessions in before I announced I'd be making my own damn campaign (with the group's support, mind you). But again, between my friends support and pushing myself, I was able to tackle some of my social anxiety because the challenges of running the entire game are completely different from the challenges of being a player.

I dove head-first into this new campaign. I wanted to do this massive campaign as a love song to puppetry because I grew up around my parents running a puppet ministry at church. So between that and Sesame Street, The Muppets, Lambchop, etc. I have this deep love of puppetry as an art form. And somewhere along the way, someone suggested a pirate theme, so I combined them. Thus I began working on a Muppet Treasure Island inspired D&D campaign.

I don't think I realized my capacity for creativity until I began working on this campaign. I never thought of myself as someone who needed a creative outlet, but holy shit was creating the D&D campaign a wonderful outlet for my creativity. I spent hours during and after work just writing and making maps. It was so fulfilling, even though the story itself was, in retrospect, kind of all over the damn place. Yet again, D&D helped me grow a little bit as a person. It gave me a creative outlet. It gave me fulfillment that I was critically lacking at work.

And then we started running the campaign. Session 0 was via Zoom and we all got excited about it. Session 1 was a pretty standard "you wake up as felt creatures on a mysterious beach and are quickly taken prisoner by King Friday, but let loose by his royal advisor X The Owl to help him solve a global problem because reasons" plot. But it was fun and I felt so alive.

Then session 2 one of the players had to bail...and I was not going to let that prevent the session from happening, so we just worked around it. Then by the time I was scheduling session 3 that player bailed completely. Session 4 was a bit messy/rushed on my part...and then everything just started to fall apart. Weeks went by, then months, now it's been nearly 2 years I think? We never even got off the starting island...all the story I wrote...all the maps I'd created...just completely unused. And it was soul-crushing. I felt like I'd wasted my time. I felt stupid for having put so much effort into something that fell apart so quickly.

But that was a bad attitude on my part, in retrospect. It wasn't a waste. I enjoyed every second of it. It was fulfilling. It was fun. So I'm thinking about returning to it and just fleshing out the rest of the campaign a bit more. I'm hoping to watch a lot of Dimension 20 in the coming weeks to get me back in the mood and take what I learn from it and just get back into D&D. Honestly I don't know that I want to DM again because I think that core group is done for when it comes to D&D. And it's hard to imagine finding another group I feel that comfortable with, but maybe? I think it's okay to just worldbuild for worldbuilding's sake, ya know?

But I do miss playing. I miss being in-character. I miss coming up with silly backstories and goofy premises for a character. I miss talking in funny voices for other adults (my kids get the bulk of it, these days). I miss making people laugh and contributing to them having a good time. And D&D was a perfect outlet for all of that. One of these days I'm going to find the motivation and courage to just find a group of strangers to join and try to quiet the social anxiety enough to enjoy it.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?

I recall this thread https://tildes.net/~health.mental/1l62/adhd_diagnoses_are_surging_among_older_americans that I responded to in January, 2 months after my diagnosis, but about 3 weeks before I started medication. At the time, I was "self-medicating" with cannabis every weekend and I did implement positive changes, but I knew I needed something for the week and I knew I didn't want to smoke every day or take cannabis every day.

The medications

I started using Vyvanse in late January, after my diagnosis was confirmed in October, but my doctor wanted to wait for my heart results because I had consulted about my heart many many years before and it was the only thing I could answer to her when she asked me: "any past problems about your body?". In retrospect, she did well, because I now realize that most ADHD drugs are stimulants.

Anyways. My first day on Vyvanse was absolutely I N S A N E. I felt like I was the guy from Limitless taking NZT for the first time. It was like all my mind clutter got removed at once. Normally, I felt like I was losing frames every second, but with Vyvanse, I felt focused, every discussion I had that day, I was fully focused. Everything I had to do that day, or wanted to do, I did. I'm a teacher and there are TONS of stuff we need to do that is not really talked about, stuff like printing papers, organising papers for my groups (I'm in high school), reorganising my desks because someone messed with them, and so much little planning for different projects, future exams, future classes. Most of those things include some sort of planning with others, which can lead to a long list of things to do that just never ends. Well, that day, I did everything I needed to do and I felt like I wasted zero time with everything. I was efficient, quick, did all my tasks and more. I was used to doing thing fast, but I was maybe ~80-85% efficient most of the time. Well, with Vyvanse, I was at 120%. That lasted for a couple of days... and then the side effects started to really pile up.

I have insomnia, trouble staying asleep, I always wake up during the night and was also diagnosed with sleep apnea last year. So, insomnia coupled with stimulants was just not a good combo. I was not sleeping at all, probably getting 1-3 hours of sleep for multiple days in a row. My heart was often racing very much, often times at non-usual hours, such as at like 3 am...

I was super happy with the positive effects, it was exactly what I needed. I was able to start routines I had wanted to start for years, such as cooking, cleaning, planning, exercising, etc. I was able to do all that, but my heart racing and my lack of sleep really took a toll on me.

So I went to see my doctor, we tried Concerta for about a month and a half, but it did just nothing. It was maybe 15-20% of what Vyvanse was AND it still affected my heart, while not helping my insomnia. So I went back to my doctor.

We then tried Strattera. Oh boy, did Strattera work. I started it around early April and it's exactly what I needed. It's about 85-90% of the positive effects that Vyvanse had, while having close to zero side effects. I'm prepared to be on Strattera for the rest of my life. I'm on 40mg now and I don't need to up the dose, but through the years, I could go as high as 120mg, so there is room to keep the same effects for many many years.

How it changed my life

I must state that I'm in my early 30's. I've been living alone all my adult life. I had wanted to make positive changes in my life for years. I wanted to cook more, I wanted to exercise more, to organize my life, to decorate my apartment, to improve everything about my life. I had the willpower, my body just didn't follow. So, in that sense, the medication was just the final push before implementing everything in my life.

I had already started to make positive changes when I used cannabis during Fall 2024. Every weekend, I would write up a list, smoke a joint and go to work. I just wanted to be able to do that during my work week because, obviously, pot is not an ADHD drug and I couldn't be high all the time.

I can confidently say that Strattera and the medications just completely changed my life. Yes, I implemented every "positive life changes" you can think of. My life is organized, I can keep agenda updated, I can easily plan needed appointments, I follow-up on people when I tell them too. Remember all the times you've told people "oh yeah, I'll do that later!" and didn't follow up? Well, now I do follow up every time. I have planned my whole summer (yeah, teacher vacation!) easily... the list just goes on.

Being organized helped me in myriad of ways, in fact, it helped me use cannabis for (what I think is meant to be used) creativity. Now, I smoke a joint every Sunday, when all my chores are done, and I just think about creative projects I have always had and I work towards them, but it's mostly just thinking and writing some of it down. I made huge progress in a fantasy story I had in mind for years. I made huge progress in planning some class changes I wanted to implement next years; stuff like changing the desks configuration, offering benefits for work, changing the work style of my students, etc. And you know what? I'm thrilled to work towards that. I have some camping planned this summer where I plan to go alone and just think about that stuff in nature.

Anyways.

The biggest change is honestly just being able to switch from a short-term, adrenalin-energy-based life, to a long term life. I'm hopeful towards the future, because I know I'll be able to see my projects come to fruition. Even if it takes 10 years, I know I can do the work. I understood that, ultimately, life is work. There is stuff you just need to do. I cannot just not do the dishes, I cannot just not pick up after myself. I cannot just not take out the trash. But now, my brain is not tuned around maximizing short-term dopamine, my brain is now tuned around maximizing overall happiness, so I can do that "needed" stuff, while doing everything else while not being more tired than I was before.

I can just be the man I have always wanted to be. I always wanted to help people, to love people. Every other weekend, I go see my sister and help her with her house. Sometimes, I work like 7-8 hours a day, and I'm happy to do it.

Don't get me wrong, I still have time in my week where I have leisure time: I game about 10-14 hours every weekend, I surf reddit and youtube ~2-3 hours every day, but I just plan those moments better and end up enjoying them more, honestly. Every time I meet up with my friends, I fully enjoy it. It's not like I'm "no, sorry, gaming is not productive, so I won't do it." It's more like "yes, I can game freely now!".

Anyways, thank you for reading me, I just wanted to share my experience and I hope you'll free yourself from the judgement/negativity around being diagnosed/medicated with ADHD. If you think you might have ADHD, go to a doctor. Once I reached for help and got my diagnosis, it absolutely completely changed my life for the better. My only regret is not going to the doctor earlier, but I didn't, because "everyone has ADHD", yeah.

Disclaimer: I am very lazy. I just want an easy way to find music I want to listen to. A paid service is fine.

I tend to listen to Spotify but I find it is repetitive and uninteresting, maybe I just can't find the good playlists? I also listen to my local FM radio station but they don't say the artist or song title so if there's something I like I often can't find it again.

I miss the days of going to the shop and buying a CD after spending two hours listening to the sample tracks.

Surely there is a better way? If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very grateful!

Haven't seen a whole lot of discussion about this show on tildes. Not in weekly threads nor a main thread - so here is one!

It's a 9/10 for me.

I waited until all of season 2 was out before starting it. Realized I had forgotten almost everything since season 1 though, so rewatched that first. It turned into a binge of both seasons - I just could not stop! It has been probably 3 years since I was so glued to the screen and this engaged in a tv show (Euphoria season 1),

I will skip an analysis or further review but every character was good. Every actor delivered. Just great all around. Season 2 (9.5/10) even better than season 1 (8.5/10).

So anyways, discuss! More than happy to have my feelings about it validated lol, and also see other takes on it.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Server host: tildes.nore.gg (Running Java 1.21.4)
Bluemap: https://tildes.nore.gg
Playtime Tracker: https://tildes.nore.gg/playtimes.html
Tildes website extension (shows online status & location): Firefox (Desktop and Android) - Chrome
Verification site: https://verify.tildes.nore.gg
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TildesMC

The server operates on a soft whitelist. Anyone can log in and walk around, but you need a Tildes account to gain build access.

New Thread